


Familiar Faces

by CrystalQueer



Category: The Greatest Showman (2017)
Genre: Do phillips parents have names, F/M, Historical Inaccuracy, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-03 19:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13348269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalQueer/pseuds/CrystalQueer
Summary: Phillip's parents show up for one of the circus' shows and an argument ensues as they try to convince him one last time to return home.-or-Phillip Carlyle tells his mother to perish.





	Familiar Faces

**Author's Note:**

> Look,, I'm bad at summaries but I swear that doesn't reflect on the fic itself.
> 
> I've seen this movie twice so far and basically the only thing I've been listening to is the soudtrack so I really wanted to write for it? It's so good,,,

It was Thursday night and Phillip was watching his circus perform. They were right towards the end of the show, Anne and W.D. were the stars now, the spotlights and all eyes were on them as they swung over the heads of the audience, performing flips and falls that made the audience cheer and gasp with amazement.

He stood off to the side, also watching the two trapeze artists. He clapped with the crowd and would gesture occasionally like, "wow! Look at them!" but he was irrelevant in that moment. Personally, he didn't understand how Anne and W.D. could do that; all the flips were cool until you were several feet off the ground and performing with the risk of severe injury or death. He never told Anne this, she would laugh at him and call him a wimp- which was fair, compared to her he was a bit of a wimp.

Anne dropped to the ground and his heart plummeted with her; they had practiced this a thousand times, she would fall, the performers would catch her, they would do their closing acts and wrap up the show, but still seeing her fall was nerve-wracking. To distract himself briefly he plastered a grin on his face and turned to the audience to see their reactions, faces of amazement and fear and worry met him and his grin was no longer fake, he loved seeing the audience react to Anne falling, they made the faces he wanted to but couldn't make in the middle of show. But in the middle of the crowd, sitting stony faced, were people Phillip had never wanted to see.

He turned quickly and went out to the ring to join the performers as they did their final acts, dancing and singing and working the crowd up. Lettie was amazing as always, and Anne was on the ground. She was a great dancer and he loved incorporating her in their new routines and she loved it. He focused on going through the moves, telling himself that they weren't in the crowd.

At the end of the show thunderous applause greeted them and Anne joined him at the front, he wrapped an arm around her waist and raised his free hand and she did the same, they both ignored how the applause quieted slightly at that. They had gotten a lot more comfortable with their relationship although they were still wary to go out together because whispers followed them wherever and it made them both uncomfortable. Usually at the end of the show the biggest surprise to the audience was when he dipped her and kissed her, but he didn't do that and he didn't miss to curious glance Anne sent him.

He sighed and met her gaze, but quickly turned back to the crowd. Her grip on his waist tightened slightly and he knew that as soon as the show was over she'd have questions.

The performers took their final bows and headed backstage and the crowd started filing out. Anne and Phillip went to stand by the tent's exit to see out the audience like they usually did and on their very short walk over, Phillip explained his nerves.

"So.. your parents are here?" Anne asked. "Are you sure it's them and not some stony-faced grumps who don't know a good show when they see one?"

"Anne, darling," Phillip replied, "I've lived with them for most of my life, I'm pretty sure I'd know my parents."

"You could've mistook some random people for them in the dark.." She hated his parents almost as much as he did despite having only met them once. Neither of them wanted to see them again. "Why would they even be here?"

He didn't have a chance to answer, they both had to paste on smiles and thank the crowd for coming, Anne moved off to the other side of the door. He hoped that his parents would be crushed in the center of the crowd and unable to approach. But of course that couldn't happen.

Everyone had left except for two people: his parents predictably. They approached him and he pretended to not see, focusing on Anne over their shoulders. She hung back and eyed them warily, which was understandable considering that the first time they had met his parents had called her "the help" and made some nasty comments.

"Phillip." His father said. That was it, no greeting, no "how are you"'s just his name in the most disappointed tone he had ever heard.

"Father." Phillip returned, straightening his shoulders and returning the cold gaze both his parents gave him. "Did you enjoy our show tonight? We worked hard on it."

Mr. Carlyle snorted in disgust. "We have entertained your little circus dreams long enough! Your mother and I thought you'd grow tired of parading around with your oddities and your little fling with the help eventually but you are testing our patience. It's time you give up on this escapade and get back to reality!"

"Is this not real enough for you?" Phillip asked. "Is old age messing with your head and making it hard for you to figure out whats real and whats not?"

His father sputtered with anger and his mother rested a soothing hand on his shoulder. He bit back a satisfied smile at the old man's reaction and behind his parents he saw Anne stifling her laughter.

"What your father is trying to say is that we weren't here for the show. We're here to talk to you." His mother tried.

Phillip arched his eyebrows. "I never would have guessed."

She scowled. "Phillip, cut this out! You used to be such a nice boy, and then you met that Barnum fellow!"

"And he made me realize how miserable I was! I'm happier now than I was when I lived with you." He said. "Mr. Barnum has helped me find my passion and a family."

"We are your family!" His father roared and Phillip flinched slightly. "You will leave this mess and you will return home and you will forget about your affair and marry someone respectable!" As his father spoke, his voice steadily grew louder and Phillip knew that the others would become curious and come to investigate. He had to end this soon. 

"You are no longer my family." He replied firmly. "And I will do no such thing. I refuse to listen to you, and I especially refuse to cheat on the woman I love with someone I wouldn't care for. Anne is prettier, smarter, more talented, and makes me happier than any poor woman you could find."

As if she was cued, Anne finally came to stand next to him to offer silent support. She twined their fingers together and stared at his parents coldly, he leaned against her slightly, much to the horror of his parents.

"Phillip the distress you cause me is going to kill me!" His mother shrilled before she turned on Anne. "Unhand my son you witch! I know you seduced him and you're the reason he's gone astray!" 

"If the distress I'm causing you by being happy and living my life is killing you, then you can perish." Phillip said calmly. Anne snorted.

"Phil, did you hear that? Apparently I'm the reason you went astray. Not Mr. Barnum offering you the job. It was all me." She said. His parents glared daggers at her but she ignored them and he admired her for her strength to deal with them.

"Mother, father, if you're only here to heckle me and one of my performers then I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Besides, the show ended long ago and we don't usually allow people to linger after it ends." Phillip said, his parents both scowled, but he didn't falter. "If you do not leave immediately I will have you removed." He lifted his chin and stared at them evenly. Anne squeezed his hand.

"Phillip, this isn't over! We know you'll get bored eventually, when you do, don't come crying to us!" His father snarled.

"That won't be a problem. I've been doing fine without you." Phillip replied. "Now leave."

He and Anne watched as his father took his mother's hand and they stormed out angrily. Once they were gone, Anne turned to look at him. "Are you okay?" she asked. Phillip was staring at the tent flaps that his parents had just walked through, his expression was stony and he didn't meet her eyes.

"Phil?" she prompted, worry clouding her features. After a moment he shook his head and turned to meet her eyes. "I'm, I'm fine, sorry." he answered, "I just find it so," he paused and used his free hand to gesture noiselessly, struggling to come up with the words, "so funny that they keep telling me, "don't come crying to us when your career fails" when my career is fine and they're the ones crying to me to get me to come back."

"They've been sending me letters, you know." Phillip said. "At least my father has been." Anne tilted her head slightly, looking curious. "Yeah? What do they say?"

"Don't know. I recognise my father's handwriting on the envelope and I burn it. I can tell you what I think it says, though."

"Do share." 

Phillip thought for a moment. ""Phillip, you're huge disappointment to your family but if you come back you can have some of your inheritance back and we can help you rebuild your social status even though you destroyed it by running away to join the circus."" He did a decent impression of his father's voice and Anne looked impressed. She opened her mouth to comment but before she could Phillip continued. "Oh! And, "by the way, we can bury the scandal of your relationship with the black circus girl and find you a suitable wife who will marry you only because we pay her to.""

Anne chuckled. "From what I've seen of them, that sounds pretty accurate."

"I've read at least the first two letters," Phillip said, "that's basically it."

They stood in silence for a couple minutes before he spoke again. "Should we head back?" He asked.

"Yes." Anne replied. "My wig is starting to itch so don't be too hurt if I leave you to go take it off."

He squeezed her hand and they walked back behind the curtain, like she had said she would Anne gave him a kiss on the cheek before dropping his hand and leaving to go sit at her vanity table and remove her wig.

"Hey Carlyle!" Someone called. He looked towards the voice, it was Lettie, the show's bearded lady. Lettie was great, she was one of the first performers he had met when he joined the circus and she had always been kind to him, she had even given him advice about Anne when he started falling for her. She waved him over and he went.

"Yes?" Phillip sat on a crate next to her and took off his hat. There were plenty of chairs around but they had a lot more empty crates for when they needed to pack props and costumes.

"We heard some yelling out front. Everything okay?" She asked.

"Yes, everything is fine." He answered, leaning back on his hands. Lettie arched an eyebrow skeptically and he sighed. "All right. My parents came to see the show."

Anyone who knew Phillip knew he greatly disliked his parents. "Oh? Did they enjoy the show?"

"No. don't take it too hard, though, they wouldn't know a good show if it were right in front of them." He replied.

"What did they want?" Lettie tilted her head slightly.

"They came to yell at me about my life choices and insult Anne." Phillip shrugged. There was a brief pause before he continued. "And they offered to help me find a wife."

Lettie grinned. "I'n sure Anne was thrilled to hear that."

He nodded mutely and her smile faded. "Chin up Carlyle, at least they probably won't show up again and you can rest easy you got away from 'em before you ended up married to some girl you barely know, eh?" Lettie was trying to cheer him up but it wasn't exactly working. He stood.

"If anyone needs me, tell them I'm in my office," he said. Lettie nodded and he walked off, missing the concerned look that she gave his back.

Hours must've passed and no one came to talk to him. Perhaps Lettie told them he needed time alone. In fact he needed the opposite, but it wasn't like he was going to go and ask for attention.

He felt pretty.. awful about his parents. It wasn't what they said, it was what he had said. Sure, they were terrible but he should've just asked them to leave right away instead of arguing, would've saved them all a lot of breath.

Phillip was nodding off at his desk when the tent flaps that were the entrance rustled. He started awake and looked up, eyes wide and his expression a bit surprised, but it was just Anne. She wore a basic dress now and her hair hung loose around her shoulders, he relaxed when he saw her and she pursed her lips, concern on her face. 

"Phil, you're still up? It's past midnight." She said softly, perching on his desk.

He waved a hand dismissively. "I was planning on going to my tent and sleeping soon.." he replied, his voice rough from disuse.

Anne frowned. "You're going to sleep now." She said. "Come on, get up." She stood and tugged at his arm to try and pull him from his chair. He obliged and stood, taking a moment to stretch before walking slowly after Anne out of his Business Tent and into his nearby living tent. She stood at the entrance of his tent and stared outside as he got changed behind her, only turning when he gave the okay.

"No sneaking back over to your desk when I leave, got it? You need to sleep Phil." Anne said.

"Annie?" Phillip said softly.

"Hm?"

"Will you stay with me?" He asked and she pursed her lips.

"Me being in here is already highly improper." She replied. "And imagine what the others will think!"

"They won't care," he said. "Well, your brother might, but," Phillip shrugged and held his arms open for her. He was a bit worried because he knew Anne's brother would kill him if he thought they did anything, but in that moment he didn't care and stared at her expectantly, waiting for her to join him and after a couple moments she caved and laid down with him. And then she got up because they had to shuffle around so she could get under the blanket but eventually they made it work.

Phillip put his arms around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. All was quiet save for the faint noises the circus animals were making. "Hey Annie?" He whispered.

"Yeah?" she whispered back, sitting up slightly.

"Who cares about my parents, I have everything I need right here." he gave her a gentle squeeze and she laid back down.

Phillip kissed Anne's forehead. "I love you," he murmured.

"Love you too," she replied.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like this you can check me out on tumblr @appleciderwriting ! I'm currently accepting requests!


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